The present invention relates to rotary recording medium reproducing apparatuses capable of placing and leaving a rotary recording medium in a state possible for reproduction within the rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus when a jacket (disc case) having a lid for accommodating the rotary recording medium therein is inserted into and then pulled out from within the rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus, and also capable of incasing the rotary recording medium within the jacket so that the rotary recording medium can be obtained outside the rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus together with the jacket, when the empty jacket is inserted into and then pulled out from within the reproducing apparatus. The present invention further and especially relates to the above type of a rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus provided with a disc lifter lowering control device for automatically lowering a disc lifter which supports an inner peripheral part of the rotary recording medium and supports the rotary recording medium above a turntable, when a predetermined time period elapses without an anticipated operation being performed after the disc lifter is raised.
Conventionally, in an apparatus for reproducing a disc-shaped recording medium (referring to video disc, PCM audio disc, and the like, and hereinafter simply referred to as a disc), there are types of apparatuses in which a disc is reproduced when the disc is loaded upon holding and placing of the disc within the reproducing apparatus, by inserting into and then pulling out a disc case which has a lid and accommodates a disc therein, from within the reproducing apparatus.
As a conventional apparatus of this type, a reproducing apparatus was proposed in a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 231,868 filed Feb. 5, 1981, entitled "DISC-SHAPED RECORDING MEDIUM REPRODUCING APPARATUS" in which the assignee is the same as that of the present application. This previously proposed reproducing apparatus operates together with a disc case comprising a jacket which has a space for accommodating a disc and an opening for allowing the disc to go in and out of the jacket, and a lid member inserted through the opening of the jacket for closing the opening of the jacket, where the reproducing apparatus comprises an inserting opening through which the case is inserted, a turntable for rotating the disc, holding means for holding at least one of the disc and the lid member provided at an innermost part on the opposite side from the inserting opening with respect to the turntable, lowering and raising means for lowering the disc to a position where the disc is placed onto the turntable from a holding position where the disc is held by the holding means upon starting of the reproduction and raising the disc to the holding position from the turntable upon finishing or discontinuing of the reproduction, a reproducing transducer for reproducing the disc placed onto the turntable, and moving means for moving the reproducing transducer from a waiting position to a reproducing position with respect to the disc.
In the above previously proposed reproducing apparatus, the disc is raised and lowered by a disc lifter. When the disc is lowered, the outer peripheral part and the inner peripheral part of the disc are supported, and the disc is stably placed onto the turntable. However, when the disc is raised, only the inner peripheral part of the disc is supported by the disc lifter. Accordingly, the state in which the disc is supported is unstable, since the outer peripheral part of the disc is not supported. If the disc is left in the above state for a long period of time, the disc may become deformed. Therefore, it is desirable to construct the reproducing apparatus so that the state in which the disc lifter is lowered is the basic state, and the disc lifter is raised every time the disc case or the jacket is inserted into the reproducing apparatus, by performing a predetermined operation to drive an elevator motor for raising the disc lifter.
Accordingly, a reproducing apparatus provided with a disc lifter mechanism which is in a basic position when the disc lifter is in the lowered state, in a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 288,292, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,744 filed July 30, 1981, entitled "DISC-SHAPED RECORDING MEDIUM REPRODUCING APPARATUS" in which the assignee is the same as that of the present application.
However, even in this latter proposed reproducing apparatus, if the operator forgets to start a play operation after the disc is loaded into the reproducing apparatus by inserting and then extracting the disc case into and from the reproducing apparatus, or when the operator forgets to recover the disc from the reproducing apparatus after an operation is performed to terminate the disc reproducing operation, for example, the disc will be left in a state supported above the turntable for an exceedingly long period of time where only the inner peripheral part of the disc is supported. Especially when the reproducing apparatus is used under a high temperature condition, the unsupported or free outer peripheral part of the disc may become deformed in a hanging manner while the disc is left in the above partially supported unstable state. Therefore, there still was a disadvantage in that such deformation of the disc introduced interference upon reproduction, and lead to difficulties when the disc is recovered within the jacket.